Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson has rejected an invitation to interview with members of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, refusing to participate in what his lawyers call "some of the President’s staunchest protectors" misspending "American taxpayers’ dollars to undermine the Special Counsel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election."
Simpson already has spent more than 20 hours interviewing with the three congressional committees conducing official investigations – the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee.
In rejecting the request to appear, Simpson’s lawyer, Joshua Levy, slammed the Republican-led panels’ probes as a “sham, factually, substantively and procedurally.”
Simpson ... hired [Christopher] Steele as part of an opposition research project it conducted on behalf a law firm representing the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic Party. Republicans have long underscored this political connection to cast doubt on the origin of the FBI’s investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia. The bureau relied partly on Steele’s findings to obtain a surveillance warrant for a former Trump campaign adviser.
A House Judiciary Committee aide said Chairman Bob Goodlatte intends to issue a subpoena to compel Simpson's testimony “soon.”
The FBI and lawmakers have indicated that the investigation began based on a tip from an Australian diplomat who interacted with a different campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, in London ..
From Simpson's lawyers' letter:
While it is a fact that the Australian government, one of the U.S. government’s strongest and most trusted allies, provided the information that initiated the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia,3 the President and his allies on the Hill have sought to bury that fact by emphasizing the provision of information to the Justice Department by our client and Mr. Steele.
(...)
Mr. Simpson has already complied with demands for closed-door interviews by three congressional committees, providing a total of some 20 hours of testimony concerning his knowledge of Donald J. Trump’s questionable business practices, his extensive ties to organized crime, his presidential campaign’s surreptitious and illicit connections to Russia, and Russia’s attempts to infiltrate the Republican Party and undermine the democratic system of the United States. Much of Mr. Simpson’s information, including testimony that was harshly ridiculed by Republican members, has now been substantiated.
Glenn Simpson's lawyers' letter
Co-founder of firm behind Trump dossier rejects House GOP interview request (Politico)